Productivity and innovation: value drivers and catalysts of growth

Productivity and innovation: value drivers and catalysts of growth

Singapore’s 50 most enterprising privately-owned companies were unveiled at the 19th Enterprise 50 (E50) Awards presentation and gala dinner held at Resorts World Sentosa this evening.

The theme for this year’s E50 Awards was ‘Creating value to stay ahead’. It underscored the need for companies to reshape their business models and focus on value creation as a competitive advantage to stay ahead.

Coming in first on the 2013 E50 list was Soon Li Heng Civil Engineering Pte Ltd, an excavation specialist. Property developer Teambuild Land Pte Ltd was second in the list while Borden Company Pte Ltd, a home-grown pharmaceutical manufacturing company, was ranked third.

Acting Minister for Manpower, Mr Tan Chuan Jin graced the E50 gala dinner and presented the awards to the top 10 E50 companies for 2013. Companies in the 11th to 50th positions received their awards from Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr Teo Ser Luck, at a ceremony held earlier this morning.

Keeping the competitive edge

This year’s entrants represented a good cross-section of Singapore’s manufacturing, construction and services sectors. The judges were impressed with the performance of the enterprises despite challenging trade and industry conditions. Also noteworthy was the enterprises’ focus on leveraging productivity to drive their growth strategy and boost economic competitiveness amidst a tight labour market.

Mr Owi Kek Hean, Deputy Managing Partner and Head of Enterprise Services at KPMG in Singapore said: “The entrants for this year’s E50 Awards are enterprises in a league of their own, especially given the business and market challenges they have had to weather in recent years.

“The 50 enterprises that made the rankings turned in healthy numbers that were driven by intentional investments in productivity improvements that are aligned with a sustainable business model.

As a result, they have significantly raised performance and successfully positioned their company for business expansion, whether into new lines of business or to grow geographically.”

Future-proofing the business

This year’s E50 winners not only demonstrated strong business acumen, innovation and leadership, but also a track record in value creation and future-proofing their businesses.

Mr Alvin Tay, Editor of The Business Times, said: “The Business Times, KPMG and the other event partners would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to all the winners. The key theme this year was creating value to stay ahead, and this year’s E50 winners have shown that they can stay resilient and effectively manage their strengths to build new strategic relationships and seek new markets to sustain their businesses.”

Participants this year were evaluated against a rigorous set of quantitative and qualitative criteria. Quantitative factors included financial performance indicators such as operating profit before tax, turnover and profit growth.

The qualitative criteria included management and marketing strategies such as the applicants’ business model and their innovations, management ideals and governance, market branding and overall potential.

The judging panel comprised senior management representatives from KPMG in Singapore, The Business Times, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), SPRING Singapore and OCBC Bank, which is the sponsor of the E50 Awards.

Mr Linus Goh, Head, Global Commercial Banking, OCBC Bank, said: “OCBC Bank is delighted to return as the main sponsor of the Enterprise 50 Awards for the eighth year running. This year’s winners showcase the best of our Singapore enterprises, adapting and innovating even under uncertain market conditions to build successful and sustainable international businesses. We congratulate each of these deserving winners and look forward to seeing them leverage this award platform for greater success.”

Said Mr Teo Eng Cheong, CEO of IE Singapore, “Internationalisation is a critical component that will help companies become bigger and more competitive. Our latest survey showed a 30 percent increase in SMEs with clear internationalisation strategies1. To help companies do so effectively, IE Singapore will continue to support them with on-the-ground insights, market connections and strategic assistance.”

Mr Victor Tay, Chief Operating Officer, Singapore Business Federation, said: “In tandem with the overall growth and performance of sectors in Singapore this year, we see majority of winners from the Engineering Services and Real Estate and Construction sectors. It is heartening to see this year’s E50 winners displaying competitiveness and resilience despite facing domestic challenges such as rising business costs and manpower constraints. We hope these companies will serve as role models to spur the wider business community to restructure and transform towards quality-driven and productivity-led growth for long-term business sustainability.”